


a little less fight and a little more spark

by ramonaflow



Category: Ocean's (Movies), Ocean's 8
Genre: Background Relationships, Backstory, F/F, Sexual Tension, how they meet, younger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 10:14:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15241161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ramonaflow/pseuds/ramonaflow
Summary: She was turning thirty today. It had been a while since she hadn’t thought about celebrating her birthday, but maybe, she wanted to make this one special.So she thought, why the hell not rob an Ocean ?





	a little less fight and a little more spark

**Author's Note:**

> I had to change a thing or two and I deleted the first fic, soo sorry for the one comment that was lost with it ! I saw it, thank you very much !
> 
> I'm so bad at finding titles for my fics but I thought about Ocean's 11 soundtrack and the song "A Little Less Conversation" from Elvis so here we go... English isn't my first language, I hope it turned out alright ! Should be two chapters only.

**a little less fight**

She was turning thirty today. It had been a while since she hadn’t thought about celebrating her birthday, but maybe, she wanted to make this one special.

So she thought, why the hell not rob an Ocean ?

She had a few connections, and she heard Danny Ocean was staying downtown. She had been working on spotting exits and entrances, surveillance cameras, in and out routine of the employees for the past few days. She gathered all she needed, access codes, a good disguise, security coded, she got her timing ready, it was all set.

First step : wait at the hostel bar for the first employees turnover to get in. _Easy_.

Except, for once, something came up that she didn’t anticipate. Or, more accurately, _someone_.

“Date’s not coming ?”  
  
Lou turned on her stool to face a young woman, standing beside her and ordering a martini. A stunning woman, if she was being honest, catching glimpses of her figure under that elegant, yet transparent here and there, black dress.  
  
“I guess he had better things to do.”  
  
She wasn’t supposed to draw anyone’s attention, better go along with the common perception: a woman drinking alone, it had to be about a man. She thought the brunette would leave as soon as she got her drink, however she actually sat right next to her, crossing her legs — those legs — and taking a sip of a drink while casting her sideways glances, a playful smile at the corner of her mouth.  
  
_God, really ?_ She sighed internally. She didn’t have time for distractions.  
  
“His loss.” The brunette finally said, her eyes all over Lou's body before locking with her own.  
  
_Really, then_. She wasn’t supposed to flirt. No distraction on a job, it was the rule, nothing personal, ever. Every single criminal rule. At least something all of them had in common. Just make her go away. Or leave, it’s almost time.  
  
“What about you ?”  
  
_Not like that._  
  
“Just staying with my brother, we have business downtown.”  
  
_Leave. You can do it, Lou_.  
  
“Anyway, I should go, I don’t plan on getting drunk for a man.” She winked to the woman — just because — and paid for her own drink ; she already had her hand on her leather jacket when she heard in her back, almost like a whisper only her could hear :

“Piece of advice, don’t try robbing an Ocean.”  
  
She froze. _Did she hear it right ?_  
  
“What did you just say ?” Lou asked as silently as she could, sitting back on the stool and glaring at the woman - who was completely indifferent to her glare anyway, drinking casually her martini.  
  
“Pretty sure you heard me.”  
  
_What the hell_. Who else knew Danny Ocean was there ? Cops ? Bodyguards ? No, that was plainly ridiculous. _Get your shit together and..._  
  
“Don’t freak out.” The brunette said, watching her from the corner of her eyes.  
  
Easy to say.  
  
“I’m wondering, though, how would you know he’s there ?” She asked with curiosity, putting down her drink, eating the olive like they were chit-chatting over the weather. Same question for you honey, she wanted to retort. She tried the truth instead. Best way to make someone talks, let them think you’re the one talking.  
  
“People talk.”  
  
“Criminal talk, to other criminals.” The woman corrected, pivoting on her stool to look right into her eyes, trying, _yes_ , trying, to intimidate her.  
  
It was a first for Lou. She was not impressed, returning her stare with assurance. She sure hell surprised her, but she probably had no idea who she was dealing with. Lou had the reputation of always finding a way out of the most intricate situations. That brunette wanted to play ? _Let's play_. The waiter broke off the growing tension by asking Lou if she wanted another drink. She averted her eyes from the brunette to send him away with a dismissive wave of hand.  
  
“Is it why you’re talking to me ?” She finally demanded with a hint of defiance in her voice.  
  
She could not possibly be a cop. That left one plausible option : she was, just like Lou, here to rob Ocean, which also meant she had come to the same conclusion that tonight was the best opportunity to do it. And she was simply working on getting rid of the competition.  
  
_Don’t let your hopes go too high, darling._  
  
“I’m talking to you because you’re an attractive woman.” Her potential rival answered with such nonchalance it almost sounded true.  
  
Lou spontaneously laughed, her head in the back, barely believing what she just heard. She usually despised those who assumed they could blatantly deceive her, but this one, at least, was full of surprise. The other woman stared at her with a faintly challenging smile now. Challenging her to… what exactly ? Lou had a few ideas in mind, however she kept them aside. _Later_. Wasn’t fair to play along a game of which she didn’t know the rules yet.  
  
“I’m flattered, but please stop the bloody bullshit.” She stated coldly now.  
  
“Your wish is my command, miss…” The brunette started in an expecting voice.  
  
“Don’t bother.” Lou stopped her, adjusting her white shirt collar, waiting patiently for the other to get to the truth at some point.  
  
“Had to try. I’m talking to you because you’re planning to rob my brother.”  
  
She froze, waiting for a retraction. A laugh. Anything. It never came.

“Brother.” Lou repeated, frowning deeply, studying the woman’s expression, searching for a trace of (bad) humor, or madness, only to find her smiling, clearly content with herself. _How irritating_.  
  
“Debbie Ocean, nice to meet you.”  
  
She truly was serious. Or she was making all this up to frame her. Couldn’t be personal though, she’d remember if she had a thing with such a woman. She looked around, checking for her possible ways out. It wasn’t like she felt threatened, but she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the unpredictable turn of the night’s events. She had lacked caution. It always happens when you’re certain it won’t. Must have been the moment when she grabbed that man’s watch. Too greedy… you never run a job in a job. But it was so shiny. Pure luxury. Yeah, worth it after all.

_Punished for your own presumption, Lou_. Lesson learned.  
  
“Searching for cameras ? Or cops maybe ?” “Debbie Ocean”’s sharp voice drew her out of her mind.  
  
“You know perfectly what I am looking for… but tell me, why haven't I heard of you before ?” Lou interrogated, her right hand on the counter, leaning slightly closer, her black pants against the woman’s bare legs.  
  
“Because I know how to make sure people don’t hear about me. To be fair, it isn’t that hard, my brother tends to draw most of the attention to him.” She added, her fingers playing with the toothpick.  
  
“You didn’t exactly hide yourself from me.”  
  
Rather the opposite.  
  
“Glad you noticed.” Debbie’s hand left the toothpick to play with her long necklace, one Lou would have loved to steal by the bye, to obviously highlight the efficiency of her cleavage. Quite effective indeed.  
  
Debbie Ocean was decidedly flirting with her. It was refreshing. And Lou wasn’t one to cover up her own… interest. What was the point of that ?  
  
“Why would you tell me all that ?” She still asked, ignoring the distraction of Debbie’s fingers as much as she could.  
  
“I’m tired of staying in the shadows.” Debbie said, her voice deeper, a darker veil replacing the usual spark of her brown eyes.  
  
She was giving her more information than Lou did. Why would she ? Did she consider her to be not dangerous at all ? Slightly hurtful. Let alone it wasn’t necessarily reassuring.  
  
“Well, Debbie, if you truly are who you say you are…”  
  
“I am.”  
  
“...then you won’t have a problem letting me go.” Lou finished, a question within her declaration.  
  
Debbie chuckled and finished her drink before she said :  
  
“I’m not holding you prisoner, you know.”  
  
Her eyes darted away and Lou seized the opportunity to get a closer look at the woman, until she suddenly saw it. Here it was. At the corner of her mouth, something… and that glint in her brown eyes. That charming little crinkle... It was crystal clear: even Danny’s nonchalance, Danny’s cleverness and confidence, all of it, here it was indeed. She was his sister. She was an Ocean. She couldn’t believe it. How could she not know ? Did anyone know ? They did a good job keeping their privacy, obviously. She realized the woman was now looking back, her brows raised with interest.  
  
“You are Danny’s sister.” She stated, still hearing surprise in her own voice.  
  
Debbie tilted her head, with an almost silent and relieved sigh which probably meant something like “finally”. She uncrossed her legs, pushing Lou’s aside as she turned to let her elbows lean back on the counter, looking vaguely at the lounge. A few people were sitting there, waiting or working, while the night was slowly falling outside.  
  
“You still haven't told me your name.” Debbie observed.  
  
“Did you ask ?” Lou replied.  
  
“I guess I didn’t. So, what is your name ?” Debbie nods at her.  
  
“Lou.”  
  
“Lou.” Debbie repeated in an incredulous tone, focusing back on her.  
  
“Lou.” She insisted with a smug smile. “So, Debbie, what's the plan. Telling your brother about me ?”  
  
“Oh god no.” She shook her head with a spontaneous chuckle, her hair falling over her naked shoulders, her left hand playing with her now empty glass, the toothpick in her mouth.  
  
“Spit it out, Ocean.”  
  
She had that rather subtle smile, staring at her, and Lou would be lying if she didn’t admit it was hard not to smile back.  
  
“Don’t rob Danny, you won’t make it, or you will but you’ll be disappointed since he doesn’t carry much around. No, really, we never do. I wonder why you thought we even would. Whoever told you that lied.”  
  
Lou sighed, she already gave up on tonight, it was too late now, and she would have been foolish to still go for it after meeting non either than Debbie Ocean, Danny’s sister, at the bar of their hotel.  
  
“Besides, you cannot possibly rob Danny on your own. You are on your own, right ?” She gave her a questioning glance out of the corner of her eye.  
  
“I actually have a partner.”  
  
A little lie couldn’t hurt.  
  
“Haven’t seen him.”  
  
“Obviously, he’s more discreet than me.” Lou explained with annoyance.  
  
Well. It’s not that hard to be discreet when you do not exist.  
  
“You know, even if I didn’t see you stealing that watch, good choice by the way, I would probably have noticed you anyway. Next time, just get a partner, or a date.” Debbie continued.  
  
“You want to be my partner, or my date ?” Lou asked in a quiet slow voice.  
  
Whatever she said, Debbie Ocean never seemed to be caught by surprise. She probably even enjoyed the teasing, the corner of her mouth lifting in a smile.  
  
“Any difference ?” She asked.  
  
“I’d say a pretty good one, yeah.” Lou replied without blinking. It was comforting to see that, for once, the brunette had nothing to say. Lou was way more familiar with that kind of reaction, and she didn’t hesitate to show off a victorious grin, to which Debbie answered by an exasperated shake of her head.  
  
“That’s it then ? Don’t rob my brother ? That’s the whole speech ?” Lou asked after a moment.

Debbie stayed silent for a few seconds. Lou wondered if she was actually thinking about her answer or just making a pause. For some reason, after only minutes of taling with her, Lou had the feeling the woman was slightly dramatic. _Must comes with the family_.  
  
“I’ll leave you the choice.”  
  
“What choice ?”  
  
What was she talking about now ? God, did she have to build suspense every single time she said a damn thing ?  
  
“Rob him, well try to rob him if you want, or be my partner for a con, tonight.”  
  
She wanted to ask her if she was serious but the moment she thought about it, she knew she had to be.  
  
“You’re gonna have to tell me more than that.”  
  
Regretfully, she couldn’t hide well enough the curiosity in her voice. Debbie continued, throwing away her toothpick and looking at her again.  
  
“You play poker ?”  
  
“I can play poker, yes.”  
  
“That’s pretty much it.”  
  
“Doesn’t sound that interesting.” Lou commented with a bored sigh, looking across the window bay as a group of drunk young men walked by the hotel.  
  
Robbing an Ocean was exciting, at least. Poker games… Please, she was way passed that.  
  
“Oh, come on. What if I tell you it’s a secret table, with famous-and-willing-to-spend-their-money Hollywood stars, is that better ?” Debbie stared at her, slightly frowning, fire in her eyes.  
  
If Lou doubted Debbie was an Ocean before, she definitely didn’t now. Even for a poker game, it had to be… well, more than that. Of course, she’d known a secret poker game.  
  
“Secret table.” She repeated, doubt showing in her voice.  
  
“I was going to anyway, but two make it easier, and worthier.”  
  
“I don’t doubt that. And you actually trust me ?”  
  
“Of course not. I just believe you have no interest in telling anyone, that’s enough for me.”  
  
She had a point.  
  
“If you say so. And why would I want you to be my partner ? I mean, no offense, but do you have any kind of skills at least ?”  
  
What if Lou hadn’t heard of her because she hadn’t done anything remotely worth talking about ?  
  
“I’m a pretty convincing person.” Debbie said with a proud smile.  
  
Lou looked fixedly at the woman, unconvinced, and if she was already unconvinced, no doubt she wasn’t that good. She was not kidding though. She laughed at Lou’s perplexity and ordered another martini.  
  
“See that man ?” Debbie continued, pointing an older man, sitting on a chair and reading newspaper, a few tables away in a dark corner of the lounge. “I’ll come back in five with his credit card.”  
  
“You are going to steal him ?”  
  
”He’s going to give it to me.”  
  
Lou’s eyes stopped on the man, then on Debbie. Still, could be a trap. That man could be an accomplice - she doubted that but you can never be so sure. Although, what if she had actually spent the last minutes studying her options, anticipating Lou's demand ? She had been looking at the lounge long enough after all.  
  
“Not this man. This one.” She designated a younger one, looking more attractive, working on his computer on the other counter, across the room, facing the window bay.  
  
“As you wish, partner.”  
  
“Hey, I’m not your partner…“  
  
Just like that, Debbie left her at the bar and walked straight to the man, waving her hand to Lou.  
  
_Yet._  
  
She watched her with interest. If possible, the woman looked even more beautiful from there. How could she walk on those ridiculously high heels though, pure mystery. It wasn’t her figure, if she thought about it, it was something in the way she walked, the way she talked, something hard to resist, really, for she gave that feeling that she was unapproachable.

She knew exactly what she was doing. And, Lou had to admit it was alluring to watch, _you know how it will end, but still, the process is exhilarating, just like a magic trick_. And a bit unsettling. Seeing her making contact with the man, Lou smiled : Debbie was now playing a role, she could tell, without hearing her, that she was giving the man the performance of a naive and shallow young woman. Men were too easy to fool, she should have chosen a woman. Lou cast a glance at her bright new watch in the pocket of her black blazer, figuring it would take her less than five to come back with the credit card. And she was right, one minute later, Debbie Ocean was coming back, credit card in hand, showing off with a wide grin as the man waved at Lou from his seat.  
  
“What was that ?”  
  
“Ich habe es dir gesagt.”  
  
“I’m sorry, what ?”  
  
She gave the waiter the credit card to pay for her drink.  
  
“I’m a German tourist and I forgot my purse at my friend’s. You are my Australian best friend and you are breaking my nerves because I’m supposed to pay for your drink.”  
  
“You speak German ?”  
  
“I do.”  
  
_Of course she did_.

As Debbie sat back, holding her jacket in her hand and gathering her things, clearly waiting for Lou's decision, she gave it a little thought. She couldn’t possibly rob Danny Ocean now. _No way she walks home empty-handed_. Didn’t look like she had much to lose with this one, she considered, throwing a glance at Debbie. It had been a long time since she worked with someone, the rare times she did, she always made sure she was the one in control, knowing more than her partner, and possibly getting away with more money too. Always recommandations, never strangers.

Was Debbie Ocean a stranger ?

Yeah. Still, not _any_ stranger.

Rumors usually said Ocean's were trustwrothy. Never ratting aroung, rigorous, safe and clever. Malicious, too.  
  
“This isn’t a devious plan to have your little revenge on me ?”  
  
“I really don’t care. It’s just fun. We play that game, we go separate ways.”  
  
_We’ll see about that._  
  
“So, Lou, what do you say ?” Debbie looked at her, silently waiting for her decision.  
  
Unlike Ocean's, Lou wasn't much dramatic. She already made up her mind.  
  
“Fine, I’ll go with you.”  
  
Debbie smiled, leaving the credit card to the waiter, inviting Lou to follow her.  
  
She hadn’t doubted for one second that Lou would have accepted to be her partner, Lou realized. And she had been right. Walking out of the hotel, she couldn’t decide yet if it was infuriating or hot. Throwing her hair in her back, she got her motorbike keys out and reached for Debbie’s bare back with her hand when she noticed her making her way to the hotel's parking lot.  
  
“I’ll drive us there. I got my bike around the corner.”  
  
Debbie frowned, looking at her with piercing eyes. Trying to intimidate again, that one. She couldn’t help but chuckle. Maybe it worked with others ? Yeah it probably did.  
  
“You ride a bike ?”  
  
“Is that a problem ?” Ocean’s sister kept her gaze steady on Lou.  
  
_Well make up your mind honey_. They were still standing in the parking’s lot entrance, Lou playing with her keys.  
  
“No. Let’s go, I’ll tell you the address.”  
  
Truth was, Lou doubted the fact she was riding a bike was the problem, on the other hand, her being in charge, that, Debbie certainly didn’t like. A few minutes with her and Lou knew already she enjoyed being the lead. She wondered if that applied to her behavior in bed. She cast sideways glances while walking in the street, keeping her curiosity to herself. For now.  
  
“By the way, aren’t you supposed to tell your partner the job is off ?”  
  
Freaking annoying Debbie Ocean who perfectly knew there was no partner. She ignored her. And that sly smile. She truly was unsufferable.  
  
_You better not fuck with me, Ocean._

**Author's Note:**

> I'm working on a second chapter and I also have a oneshot in mind. I'm obsessed and everyone is so talented in the O8 fandom that I may feel a little self conscious... Thinking about it, even if I wished I was a Lou or a Debbie, I'm more of a Rose. Let's all Roses unit (and meet our Daphnes !)
> 
> Thanks for reading ! @w-listener on tumblr


End file.
